Hot Water
by Cirronian Sleeper
Summary: spoiler-free zone. Cole trying to show Mel how he feels with some bad advice from Nestov, a case of mistaken identity, and an interupted shower... kind of hard to describe, but still funny.


HOT WATER  
  
Hey, it's not slash or anything, lol.   
  
Don't blame me for this one. This is the fault of some VERY incorrigible friends. Sil, Teek, this one's for you ;)  
  
HOT WATER  
  
"Aw, bloody hell!" Jess growled in frustration once she had reached the sanctuary of the back room. Some drunk idiot had managed to bump her tray and spill a pitcher-full of beer down her shirt. She was sopping-wet, sticky, and rapidly going transparent in front!  
  
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Mel asked anxiously, looking up at her. Her eyes widened at the sight of the beer-soaked barmaid. "Oh, you poor baby. Come on, let's get you upstairs. We'll get these in the washer, you can borrow some of mine until these are clean."  
  
"Oh, thanks so much, Mel." Jess sighed, following her up the stairs. "Definitely been a long day."  
  
"Hey, at least it happened at the END of the lunch rush." Mel pointed out gently.   
  
Jess grinned and nodded. "There is that." She followed Mel down the hall, grinning as she quickly pulled Cole's door shut. "Why don't you want me to see in there?" She teased.  
  
Mel grinned and shook her head, walking into her room and ignoring Jess. "Here, you can wear these until your clothes are dry." She said, holding up a skirt and a matching blouse.   
  
"Thanks, Mel." Jess smiled and walked back to the bathroom.  
  
"I'll just put these here." Mel told her, laying the clothes out on the sink.  
  
"Thanks." Jess grinned at her and handed over her soaked shirt and shorts.  
  
"I'll be downstairs, Jess." Mel told her, leaving and half-closing the door. Humming to herself, she quickly rinsed the worst of the stains out of Jess' clothes and dropped them into the washing machine before going back downstairs. The bar was empty, so she returned to the back room to continue taking inventory.   
  
**********************************************  
  
Cole followed Nestov into the Watchfire, his expression reflective. "And human females enjoy this?" he asked.  
  
Nestov nodded firmly. "You bet, my man."  
  
Cole blinked and sat down in the empty bar. "Mel would like it if I joined her in the shower?"  
  
"You bet." Nestov nodded again. "Look, she interested in you?"  
  
"I don't know." Cole shrugged. "That's the problem, remember?"  
  
"You think she might be?"  
  
Cole nodded slowly. "She LIKES me..."  
  
"Hey, this is as good a way as any to find out, isn't it?"  
  
"I suppose so." Cole smiled and nodded more confidently. "Thank you for the advice, Nestov."  
  
"No problem, man." Nestov grinned and winked.   
  
Cole smiled after him as he left, glad that he had agreed to spare Nestov and work with him. He really was a well-spring of useful information. His stomach grumbled, which according to Mel meant it was time to feed it. Shrugging and filing away his conversation with Nestov for later, he walked up the stairs to the apartment. His progress to the kitchen was halted in the hallway by the sound of running water from the bathroom.   
  
He turned and glanced thoughtfully at the half-opened door, peering inside the bathroom. One of Mel's favorite blouses was laid neatly over the counter, resting on top of a matching skirt. He smiled, imagining what they would look like adorning Mel. Strange-looking though her species had seemed at first, he had to admit that Mel at least, was very lovely indeed.   
  
Her choice in clothing only seemed to accentuate that natural loveliness. Glancing from the clothes to the shower curtain, he found himself wondering how Mel would look without the benefit of her pretty clothes. How had Nestov put it? This was as good a way to find out as any. Shrugging and smiling with anticipation, he slipped into the bathroom, pulling off his shirt and pants.   
  
He shivered in the cold bathroom, smiling at the clouds of steam billowing up from behind the shower-curtain. Like all self-respecting Cirronians, Cole LOVED hot water. Hot water and Mel combined into one wonderful package seemed almost too good to be true. Smiling gleefully, he dropped his briefs on top of his pants and closed the distance to the tub. Not wanting to let any of that wonderfully inviting steam escape, he pulled back the curtain only far enough to allow him to slid in, then pulled it back, turning. Unsure of the protocol at this point, he simply smiled and settled on a generic greeting.  
  
"Hel..." He trailed off abruptly, aware that he had made a minor miscalculation. "Jess?"  
  
She spun and stared up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, bloody hell!" She gasped. "COLE!"   
  
Surprised by his sudden, silent entrance, she took a startled step backwards. Wide eyes grew wider as she felt her foot hit the soap and skid. She fell backwards with a terrified shout, her arms pinwheeling. Seeing her start to fall and not wishing for her to get hurt, Cole reached out quickly and wrapped his hands around her arms, pulling her upright. Jess let out another strangled shriek as her body was firmly pulled upright and INTO Cole's.   
  
She stared up at him with wide eyes, quickly coming to two conclusions. One: as fantastic as she had thought said body was, she had BADLY underestimated matters. Two: Mel was a VERY lucky woman. Which, alas, meant that Jess had better be damned careful about how she proceeded from here. She loved Mel way too much to give in to even THIS level of temptation where Mel's "friend" was concerned.  
  
Cole stared down at her, concern obvious in his expression. "Are you okay, Jess? Are you hurt?"  
  
She shook her head and gave him a shaky smile. "Nah, I'm fine." After a few moments in which neither spoke or moved, she cleared her throat. "Um, Cole?"  
  
He smiled curiously down at her. "Yes, Jess?"  
  
"Um, what are you DOING?"  
  
"I thought you were Mel." He explained simply, shrugging.  
  
"Uh, yeah. So I gathered. Only, see, I'm not..."  
  
Cole smiled and nodded. "I'd noticed."  
  
Jess cleared her throat. "Yeah, well... that would probably be your cue to leave, yeah?"  
  
Cole shrugged again. "Okay, Jess." He smiled, gently released his hold on her arms, and patted her shoulder.  
  
Jess inhaled deeply as she watched him turn and step back out of the tub. Oh, yes. That bum was most DEFINITELY a work of art.   
  
She closed her eyes after that, schooling herself against that line of thought. She could only hope that Mel knew exactly what a good thing she had. Of course, if this was something that Cole did frequently, Mel would have had to have been blind to miss it.   
  
She cleared her throat again, aware that her body was blushing a bright crimson. She went from red to purple when she heard Cole's gentle voice a heartbeat later.  
  
"Oh, hello, Mel."  
  
"Cole, thought I heard screaming."  
  
Jess took a deep breath and struggled to remove her heart from her throat as she peered around the curtain. "Oh, hi, Mel." She greeted her weakly.  
  
Mel blinked and stared from her naked boarder to her naked best friend, her expression bemused. She was more than half inclined to suppose that the whole thing was a complete mistake. Only Cole would have heard the water running and definitely would have seen Jess' clothes laying out. HER clothes, Mel realized, shaking her head. She looked at Jess and Cole again.  
  
"Jess, could you hand Cole a towel?" She requested in a neutral tone. She was going to have to have a LONG talk with Cole. Figure out what he had done. Figure out what he had MEANT to do. Explain to him why it was not appropriate...  
  
With a nervous laugh, Jess grabbed a towel and handed it to Cole.   
  
He turned and smiled at her. "Thank you, Jess." He took the towel from her hand and began toweling off.  
  
Mel shook her head. "Cole, remember that conversation we had about towels?" She asked gently.  
  
Cole paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded, wrapping the towel around his waist. "Yes, Mel. I remember."  
  
"Good." Mel nodded. "Now why don't you apologize to Jess, grab your clothes, and we'll let her finish her shower, okay?"  
  
Cole nodded and smiled at Jess again. "I really am sorry I disturbed your shower, Jess. I thought you were Mel."  
  
Mel frowned, wondering what the hell THAT was supposed to mean...  
  
"Yeah, I know." Jess nodded and smiled. "No harm done, Cole. Just CHECK next time, yeah?"  
  
Cole smiled and nodded. "Yes, Jess." He nodded again and bent to retrieve his discarded clothes.   
  
The small towel which had barely been doing its job in the first place proceeded to do its job even LESS effectively, and Mel made a mental note to buy some larger ones before staring fixedly at the ceiling. She was not looking forward to what was coming next at all.  
  
"Come on, Cole. We need to... talk about a few things." She told him gently.  
  
"Okay, Mel. Goodbye, Jess." He added, following Mel from the bathroom. "Enjoy the rest of your shower."  
  
Jess shook her head. "Right, Cole."   
  
Jess sighed and stepped back under the warm water, feeling VERY shaky with everything that had passed in the last few minutes. She heard Cole's voice as the two retreated from the bathroom.  
  
"You know, you were wrong, Mel." Cole was telling her.  
  
Jess tilted her head curious as Mel asked. "Wrong about what, Cole?"  
  
"Jess, Mel. Her hair."  
  
Jess closed her eyes and shook her head.   
  
"What are you talking about, Cole?" Mel asked, confusion obvious in her voice.  
  
Jess opened her eyes again, mentally willing Cole to just shut the hell up. NO such luck. Cole, after all, was COLE.  
  
"Blonde IS her natural color, Mel." Cole clarified as the bathroom door slipped shut.  
  
END 


End file.
